Spring bumper and drawhead



May v2l'. 1940-4 E. n. scHRoEDER 2,201,796L

SPRING BUMPER AND DRAWHEAD Filed July 21, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INV E NTO R frfzes/SCToeder A @A ATTORNEY May 21', 1940. E. n. scHRcEDER 2,201,796

SPRING ,BUMPER AND DRWHEAD Filed July 21,l 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 T' I I I I I I I l I I 8" INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented MayZl, 1940 zartes SPRING BUWER, AND DRAWHEAD Ernest R. Schroeder, Hawthorne, N. L, assigner to American Car and Foundry Company; New York, N. Y.', a corporation of New Jersey Application July Z1, 1937, Serial No. 154,691

8 Claims.

This invention relates to end constructions for railway cars in general and in particular to resilient end constructions for use on mine or other industrial cars. In the past mine car end constructions have been built which resiliently vabsorbed both the buiiing and draft forces to which the car wasv subject, but all of these constructions were composed of a large number of parts making it yextremely ,expensive and liable to damage. These prior constructions have been very slowly adopted by the industry since in many cases'they represented as high as thirty-five percent of the total cost ol the car, making their use impractical except under certain extreme conditions. It is an object, therefore, of the present invention to provide a combined spring bumper and drawhead which is composed of a minimum number of inexpensive readily produced parts.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a combined spring bumper and drawhead construction which is very compact and rigid and which will readily resist any side thrusts to which it may be subjected.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a combined spring bumper and drawhead construction which is composed of a minimum number of parts thus simplifying its assembly for repair.

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent to persons skilled in the art from a study of the following description and accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view partly in section in order to more clearly disclose the construction;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 3-3 of Fig. 1 and showing the spring unit more clearly;

Fig. 4 is a front end view with portions broken away to more-clearly disclose the construction;

Fig. V5 is a rear end view of the end construction, and

Fig. 6 is a rear end View of substantially onehalf the drawhead `and bumper unit.

Referring now to the drawings in detail it will be seen that theend construction is made of two main parts, namely, the end member A and combined bumper and drawhead B. The end member in the present instance is formed oi cast metalhaving a rear horizontal portion 2 upon which the floor 1l may be secured and an upwardly .and outwardly inclinedl portion 5 connecting the iioor supporting portion to an upper horizontal portion 8 located substantially in alignment with the upper portion of the side sills I il. The upper horizontal portion merges with a vertically extending wall or web l2 from which upper andV lower flanges iii l@ respectively extend outwardly to provide space for reception oi the bumper and drawhead element later to be described. The vertical wall extends upwardly above the upper' ange as at i8 to provide a portion for the attachment of the end sheet 2G and this extension is suitably braced to the upper flange by a plurality of gussets 22 and a centrally located boxlike housing 2li providing space for the reception oi the coupler portion of the drawhead. The upper surface of this box-like portion is provided with an elongated slot 25 adapted to permit longitudinal movement of the coupling pin 28 which is movable in unison with the bumper and drawhead unit. The top and bottom iianges of the end member as well as the horizontal and inclined portions previously referred to are joined together at their ends by a vertically extending end wall 30hy means of which the memberl may be rigidly attached to the web of the side sill. in order to give added attaching area and rigidity tothe construction the top ilange is extended as at i2 to overlie the ilange of the side sill to which it is attached and stiiiened by portion 3i!y forming an extension of the end sheet attaching iiange. As clearly shown in Figs. 1, 3v and 5 the vertical. wall or web of the end member is provided with opcnings 3 6, while directly back of these openings the inclined portion is thickened to provide an abutment 38 above which is integrally formed a segmental cylindrical portion il? merging with the inclined and upper horizontal portions oi the end member.

The combined bumper 'and ldrawhead unit is ofvsubstantially box cross section andv is formed by upper and lower horizontal portions lZfand 44 respectively joined by a rear vertical wall 46 and a iront vertical wall /i curved the desired amount to form the bumping face. The unit is preferably cast in one piece with substantially tubular projections or extensions 5i) extending rearwardly from the rear wall and having their rear ends formed by a cap portion 52 through which an opening 54 is formed, thus providing a shouldered portion at the rear ends of the projections.y Immediately ahead oi theprojections and substantially on the center line vthereof elongated slots 5B are provided in the upper and lower walls of the unit for a purpose later to be mentioned, while intermediate these slots holes .Ell are provided in the upper and lower walls. In order to receive the coupling pin the central portion of the unit is formed with an upwardly extending wall G0 terminating in an outwardly extending flange 62 spaced upwardly above the top wall and provided with an opening through which the coupling end may be inserted into engagement with the coupling link (not shown), which is normally positioned between the upper wall 42 and flange 62.

The spring units adapted to resist bufiing and draft strains consist of a rear follower having an extension 64 extending through the opening 54 of the unit projections and held in position by means of shoulder 66 from which the spring centering lug 58 extends. The forward surface of the shoulder 66 is adapted to receive one end of a coil or other spring 10, the other end of which engages the front follower T2 formed with spring centering lug 'I4 and a forward pin engaging portion 16. The forward or pin engaging portion of the front follower is adapted to engage a pin '18 preferably square and extending through the slotted openings 56 of the bumper and drawhead unit as well as through the elongated slots of the top and bottom flanges of the end member. It is thus seen from the description of Figures 1 and 3 that the spring is interposed between followers which in turn engage the end member at the stops 38 and pin 18.

In assembling the construction the end member will be rigidly attached to the car, after which the bumper and drawhead element may be rested upon the lower flange with the rearward projections extending into the openings 36 in the vertical wall or web of the end member and acting as guides to control the lateral movement of the element. With the unit in this position the rear followers may be inserted through the open ends 82 of the box-like portion after which the springs and front follower will be inserted and the entire assembly slid rearwardly into such a position as will permit the driving in of pins 18 which will positively hold the elements together. In operation the combined bumper and drawhead unit will move outwardly under draft forces causing the tubular projections to carry the rear follower forward compressing the spring against the front follower which is held immovable with respect to the end member due to the pin 18. Upon application of a bufling force to the unit the pins 'I8 will be carried inward causing the front follower to compress the spring against the rear follower which is held by the end member.

While the invention has been described more or less in detail, it is obvious that various modiflcations and rearrangements of parts will be apparent to persons skilled in the art and all such modifications and rearrangements of parts are contemplated as fall within the scope of the following claims:

What is claimed is:

1. A bumper and drawhead device for mine cars comprising in combination with a car end member, a combined bumper and drawhead element slidably supported by the end member. a plurality of extensions projecting rearwardly from the element, springs within the extensions, front follower means between the springs and said element, rear follower means between the springs and said end member, said front and rear follower means being movable relative to the end member and element upon application of buimg and draft forces respectively to said element to compress said springs whereby to resiliently resist said forces.

2. A bumper and drawhead device for mine cars comprising in combination with a car end member having upper and lower outwardly directed flanges joined by a vertically extending wall, a combined bumper and drawhead element slidably supported by the end member between said outwardly directed flanges, a plurality of extensions projecting rearwardly from the element through said vertical wall, the extensions having apertured end walls spaced from said end member, springs in the extensions, front follower means between the springs and end member, and rea-r follower means within the extensions and having portions projecting through the apertures in the end walls of said extensions and engaged with the end member upon application of bufling forces to the bumper and drawhead element.

3. A bumper and drawhead device for mine cars comprising in combination with a car end member having upper and lower outwardly directed flanges joined by a vertically extending wall, a combined bumper and drawhead element slidably supported by the end member between said outwardly directed flanges, a plurality of extensions projecting rearwardly from the element through said vertical wall to guide the element` springs in the extensions, and front follower means between the springs and said element, rear follower means between the end member and said springs, said follower means being movable relative to the end member upon application of puffing and draft forces respectively to the said element whereby to compress tbe springs to resiliently resist said force.

4. A bumper and drawhead device for mine cars comprising in combination with a car end member having upper and lower outwardly directed flanges joined by a vertically extending wall, a combined bumper and drawhead element slidably supported by the end member between said outwardly directed flanges, a plurality of extensions projecting rearwardly from the element through said vertical wall, springs in the extensions, front and rear follower means interposed between the springs, the end member and the element, said front follower means including vertically extending stops retaining said element and end member in slidable engagement, and said front and rear follower means being movable relative to the end member and element upon application of buing and draft forces to said element whereby movement of the element relative to the end member will be resiliently restrained.

5. A bumper and drawhead device for mine or similar rail cars comprising, in combination with a car end member, a box section bumper element sildably supported by the end member, the front wall thereof constituting a buing surface, tubular extensions projecting from the rear wall of said box section element through a part of said end member, springs enclosed within said extensions, front followers arranged within the box section and with which one end portion of said springs is engaged, and rear followers interposed between the opposite end portions of said springs and positioned within the extensions, said rear followers having portions projecting beyond said extension and adapted to engage said end member.

6. A bumper and drawhead device for mine or similar rail cars comprising, in combination with a car end member, a combined bumper and drawhead element slidably supported by the end member and provided with extensions projecting rearwardly therefrom, springs enclosed within said projections extending from the rear wall of said box section.

8. As an article of manufacture, a combined bumper and drawhead element for mine and similar rail cars comprising a box section having front and rear and top and bottom walls, said front wall constituting a horizontallyvcurved Vertically extending bufling surface, and substantially closed cylindrical spring housing extensions projecting rearwardly from the rear wall of the 10 box section.v

ERNEST R. SCHROEDER. 

